INVESTIGATION FOCUSES ON NAVARRO DEAL

Former Broward County Sheriff Nick Navarro is the target of a federal investigation for signing a contract with an electronic bracelet company while sheriff, then accepting consulting fees from the company after leaving office.

Navarro's attorney and a former associate appeared before a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale on Friday with records that were subpoenaed pertaining to the contract, which Navarro signed with Digital Products Corp. of Pompano Beach.

"I don't see anything insidious or nefarious about it," said J. David Bogenschutz, Navarro's attorney. "I think it's a tempest in a teapot."

At the same time, court documents show that Navarro falsely denied under oath that he signed the consulting contract with Digital.

Appearing before the grand jury on Friday were Bogenschutz and Steve Bertucelli, who was Navarro's organized crime chief when Navarro was sheriff and later joined Navarro's consulting firm.

Bertucelli, who now has his own consulting company, declined to comment.

For more than a year, Navarro and current Sheriff Ron Cochran have been embroiled in a lawsuit filed by Digital after Cochran canceled the contract Navarro signed in 1992.

Navarro was sheriff from January 1985 to January 1993. His bid for a third term was scuttled by his defeat in the 1992 Republican primary amid reports of misspending and malfeasance in his department, and a fruitless federal investigation into possible corruption.

When he left office, Navarro formed a security consulting company called Navarro Group Ltd. Among his clients: Digital.

On Nov. 24, 1992, Navarro - by now a lame duck sheriff - signed a lease with Digital to expand electronic equipment and monitoring services that were used to track people under house arrest. Digital had provided this since 1986.

Cochran took office six weeks later, eventually canceling the contract, saying it was invalid and exorbitant. Cochran then signed a contract with another company to provide a similar service.

Digital officials say Navarro's staff recommended he sign the contract. They contend that Cochran is smearing Navarro and Digital to shift attention from Cochran's own liability for breaching the contract.

And they hint that Cochran may be trying to thwart Navarro's plans to oppose him for re-election next year.

"You have the former sheriff and the current sheriff at odds, and we're caught in the middle," said Richard Angulo, Digital's president and chief executive officer.

Cochran maintains that Navarro signed the Digital contract in return for Digital's promise to retain Navarro's yet-to-be-formed consulting company.

During lawsuit proceedings last year, Kreitzer, the Digital attorney, produced a contract between Navarro Group and Digital dated Jan. 5 - the date Navarro left office.

The pact stipulated that Digital would pay Navarro Group $2,000 a month for six months, plus a 10 percent commission on any clients he brought to Digital.

Signing the contract were Navarro and Digital's president at that time, Theodore Sabarese.

Michael Riley, then an attorney and Navarro business partner, was questioned by Cochran's attorney as part of the lawsuit earlier this month.

Riley produced a second contract between Navarro Group and Digital dated Dec. 16 - nearly three weeks before Navarro left office.

It too was signed by Navarro and Sabarese and was for six months at $2,000 a month.

Kreitzer said he thinks the Dec. 16 contract was replaced by the Jan. 5 document to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

Whether the contract was signed before or after Navarro left office, he denied repeatedly under oath at his deposition last year that Navarro Group had any dealings with Digital.

Bogenschutz said he didn't know whether Navarro perjured himself. "I haven't seen his deposition," he said.

Navarro could not be reached, despite a message asking him to comment.

Sabarese, the man with whom Navarro signed the contract, is currently under house arrest after his conviction in a federal fraud case in Philadelphia for obtaining loans for non-existent luxury yachts. He was sentenced to five years' probation, including 90 days of house arrest.

Last August, Sabarese, of Fort Lauderdale, pleaded guilty to 30 counts of conspiracy, bank and wire fraud in an unrelated case in New Jersey and testified against two co-defendants.

The trio were charged with financing six jet aircraft for millions more than they were worth and pocketing the difference. "They made off with something like $6 million," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Cutler in Newark.

On Thursday, Sabarese was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison in that case. He will begin serving the sentence on March 27. He also was ordered to pay $439,000 in restitution.

Sabarese declined on Friday to comment on his deal with Navarro. "I wasn't alone in negotiating the contract," Sabarese said.

In a Feb. 13 deposition taken by Cochran's attorney, Charles Whitelock, Sabarese invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and did not answer questions.

Whitelock outlined in a court document the purported sweetheart deal between Navarro and Sabarese.

"In April of 1992 Sabarese learned of his impending indictments. Sabarese sought to befriend Navarro in order to obtain an expedient profit to fund his criminal defense and other personal expenses," the document states.

In May 1992, Sabarese and Digital each donated $500 to Navarro's re-election campaign. And Navarro invited Sabarese - already under investigation for fraud at this time - to join the Broward Sheriff's Advisory Council, Whitelock said.

The council, now called the Florida Sheriffs' Advisory Council, is a group formed in 1985 when Navarro took office. Its members paid a $5,000 initiation and $100 annual dues to kibitz with Navarro and other law enforcement agents, and contribute money to various causes.

Sabarese paid the $5,000 initiation dues to join, even though he was involved in personal bankruptcies at the time, according to court records.